


Two's Company

by BrassOctopi



Series: love like an ocean (beautiful and terrifying) [3]
Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Cathartic Crying, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Guilt, Human Prince Sidon, M/M, Mipha is brought up and it's a bad time, Mute Link (Legend of Zelda), Sign Language, mentions of dead character, merman link, survivor's guilt (referenced)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-20
Updated: 2019-06-20
Packaged: 2020-05-15 01:45:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19285585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BrassOctopi/pseuds/BrassOctopi
Summary: All Sidon wanted to do was introduce some human food to his merman. So how did it end up in an argument about his dead sister?





	Two's Company

**Author's Note:**

> Oh jeezums. Sorry it took so long for this, friends; my formerly long distance girlfriend moved in recently, so there's been a lot to do at the old homestead. She's also job searching, which means anxiety is running high. I blame that for this. Make sure to read the tags, since this isn't exactly fluff like the last two. Thanks to everyone who commented, subscribed, bookmarked, and left kudos! I really appreciate it.

Every day it seemed like Sidon learned something new about his merman friend. Some of it seemed rather obvious, when he thought about it, such as the fact that Link hadn’t had the opportunity to eat grilled or baked foods before. In fact, many of the ingredients themselves were unknown to him, as tethered to the sea as he was.

 

Sidon had given bags of coins to the palace chefs in thanks for the feast now packed into a large basket. It contained all of Sidon’s favorites, as well as others he knew various members of the royal court enjoyed. Each was taken out in order and explained -  _ Glazed beef, Link! The shine is made by honey; Fried wild greens, with radishes from the kitchen gardens, you see; Crab risotto, that one is Chef Runo’s specialty!  _ \- earning various noises of curiosity or delight from Link. He’d practically vaulted out of the bay as soon as he caught a whiff of the salt-grilled carp, snagging it from Sidon’s hands and dropping to the hard stone, devouring it eagerly while Sidon watched in awe.

 

It seemed as though Link needed a lot of food, though whether this was a trait all merfolk shared or just Link himself, Sidon couldn’t say. He supposed it made sense, though; after all, Link had to hold himself up in the water constantly, or else lean on something to keep his head above water when visiting with Sidon. That had to take energy. And how far did the other go when he disappeared for days or weeks at a time? 

 

Sidon was startled out of his reverie by something hitting his knee with a wet  _ smack _ . Blinking, he looked down, finding a round little sprout now innocently laying next to him on the ground. He raised his gaze to Link, who was looking at the vegetable as if it had personally offended him. Sidon laughed, flicking the sprout away from them. 

 

“Yes, I agree. They never tasted good to me either.” 

 

The accusing gaze was lifted to his face.  **_And you fed them to_ ** **me** **_anyway? That isn’t food._ **

 

Sidon grinned at him. “I’m so glad to have someone on my side. My father and Mipha always…” Sidon trailed off, unable to continue as Link seemed to have lost his mermind.

 

The merman was hitting the stone in excitement, leaning forward. As soon as Sidon stopped, he began signing, the same word over and over. It looked like the sign for “gentle”, but one hand stayed balled up; it took the prince a minute to realize that it was the sign for the letter M. There was no mistaking Link’s meaning. Somehow, the merman knew his sister’s name.

 

“Mipha? You know of Mipha?”

 

Link’s grin was blinding.  **_Friendly healer. She helped me when I was hurt. Fin torn, unable to swim properly. She healed. She hasn’t been around. Where is she?_ **

 

Sidon swallowed, looking away. “She drowned at sea, many years ago now. I wasn’t much more than a child.”

 

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Link recoil and his smile drop, blue eyes wide in shock. He swam to one side, trying to catch Sidon’s eye again.

 

**_No. Mipha was a good swimmer. Strong._ **

 

“Not stronger than a storm. It came out of nowhere, they said, ended up taking down the ship. Only a few survived, and even they came back near death.”

 

Link shook his head back and forth, seeming to get caught in the motion. He shook his hand at the same time, a clear and staunch refusal. Sidon grit his teeth. He’d held this pain for over half his life, and here Link was acting like he was playing some sort of practical joke. 

 

“What do you mean,  _ no _ ? You think I would make something like that up?”

 

Link moved one hand to press against his ear, the other moving in a jerky motion in front of his chin. Sidon didn’t know it, but he could guess:  _ Liar. Liar. Liar.  _ Sidon felt something break inside his chest, like a bowstring pulled too taut until it finally snapped under the pressure.

 

“I’m not a liar!” He yelled back, pushing himself to his feet and stepping back from the water. Hot tears stung the corner of his eyes. “I wish she was here! She would be so much better at - at all of this. What about you? You want me to believe she knew a merman and never told me? If you were such good friends, where were you when her ship went down?”

 

Everything seemed to freeze in that moment. Link stared at Sidon, no longer moving, eyes wide in both disbelief and hurt. Sidon stared back, hand slamming over his gaping mouth, horrified by the words that had sprung out unbidden. It was as if all his anger evaporated in that moment, leaving only grief and guilt. It felt like an eternity before Link turned tail and fled the cove. Sidon ran after him, nearly falling in the shallow water.

 

“Link! I didn’t mean it - I’m sorry! Come back!”

 

But it was too late. The young man had disappeared beneath the waves, and Sidon had a terrible feeling that this time, he wouldn’t be coming back. 

 

\---

 

He stopped going to the cove.

 

It hurt too much; the silence of the still water, the emptiness of the bay. The echo of his shouts ringing off the walls and the ghost of Link’s look of horror and betrayal. The beeswax sheets that had been carefully wrapped around food lay abandoned. Cleaning them up would have felt too real, too final, and Sidon couldn’t bring himself to do it. 

 

He pulled away from Hamara, begging off his lessons with the excuse of not feeling well. That was true enough, at least, though his poor constitution had less to do with his body and far more to do with his heart. He felt new waves of grief over his sister, a loss that he tried to avoid thinking about more than necessary. At least with his mother, he hadn’t known her before her death. Mipha he could remember her face, her voice, though it seemed to get cloudier with each passing year. Anger, definitely, both at Link for pushing him so and at himself for driving one of his few real friends away. An aching loneliness, now that he had no one to talk to, not anyone he could trust to keep his secrets and thus share his deepest thoughts with. 

 

There was another feeling, one that confused and scared him if he spent too much time thinking about it. It felt like his soul was pulling him back to the water, screaming to wade out into the ocean after Link. It was preposterous! He knew he couldn’t swim nearly far enough to find Link, wherever the man disappeared to when not in the cove. Besides that, the ocean was huge and he was just one man. The odds of him  _ finding  _ Link without any clue as to his whereabouts was astronomical. 

 

And then there was the part that made his heart seize, painful in his chest. What if Link didn’t  _ want  _ to see him again? What if he’d driven off Link for good with his cruel words? He wouldn’t exactly blame him. He’d practically accused Link of causing Mipha’s death. He wouldn’t want to speak to himself again, either.

 

Which is why it was so startling when something grabbed his ankle while he was sitting at the end of a dock, lost in his own darkened thoughts. He pulled his foot away with a yelp, kicking to make the hand release him and scrambling backwards until he was fully on the dock. Cautiously, he shuffled back to the edge on his hands and knees.

 

Blue eyes met his, large and unreadable. The rest of Link’s face was obscured underwater, golden hair flowing around him in a messy halo. One hand raised above the water, just enough that Sidon could read his signs.  **_C-A-V-E._ ** Before Sidon could respond, he dropped beneath the water again, speeding off towards their usual meeting place.

 

Part of Sidon wanted to be petty, to stay on the dock or return to his rooms. But a much larger part of him, the part that had tugged him towards the dock and yearned for the sea since before he could remember, would have none of it. His feet were under him in a flash, and he found himself sprinting for the cove.

 

By the time he entered, Link was waiting, anxiously swimming from the mouth of the bay to the innermost point and back again. He’d risen enough for Sidon to see that his normal adornments of shells and belts were missing, except for a simple loop with a pouch hanging off and a single strand of irregularly shaped stones. They looked to be a cloudy blue with blooms of black mottling the surface. Link moved to the edge of the bay, fiddling with something under the water. Sidon rushed to meet him, kneeling down.

 

“Link, my dearest friend, I am so sorry for my outburst when we last met. Truly, my upset was less with you and more with the situation - I am afraid my temper can get the better of me, when Mipha is involved…”

 

Link shook his head.  **_No apologies. I was wrong. Not you._ ** Sidon’s voice died in his throat, unsure why that admission made him feel so relieved. He managed a small smile, sitting back on his heels. He had to clear his throat a few times before replying.

 

“How about we both take some of the blame? The topic is rather… tense.”

 

Link nodded, expression still somber. He reached into the pouch at his hip, fishing out a necklace that matched his own and offering it up to Sidon. Sidon took it with careful fingers, letting it splay out over his other hand. Link tapped his thigh, getting Sidon’s attention again before signing.

 

**_Merfolk custom. When a family member or friend dies, ornaments go away for a while. Only sorrow stones._ **

 

Sidon felt as if something large and unwieldy had suddenly lodged in his throat. As Link watched, expression cautious, he pulled it over his head, feeling the weight settle on his chest. “...Thank you. That means a lot.” For a moment, Link just watched him, as if weighing his options. Then he raised his hands again.

 

**_Another gift. More personal. Take it, please._ **

 

Sidon blinked at him, surprised, but obediently held out his hands for whatever Link planned to give him. The second object was withdrawn much more carefully, and Sidon could feel tears welling up the moment it came into sight. It had been years since he had seen it, but he would never forget his sister’s favorite silver collar. Masterfully crafted, the lines curved around her neck while three drops of aquamarine fell gracefully off the bottom. 

 

His feet fell sideways beneath his legs, shoulders dropping as he held the collar with the reverence one might give to Hylia herself. Hot tears rolled down his cheeks, dropping down onto his trousers, marring the silk. He couldn’t bring himself to give a damn. He knew Mipha had taken this collar with her on that fateful journey.

 

Link shifted back and forth in the hazy background of his vision, nervous. Had he been wrong, to look for the wreck? To find the body of the fallen princess and bring back what he could? After a moment, he began signing again, though he was fairly certain Sidon wasn’t paying attention.

 

**_I tried to bring bones. Not stable enough. Falling apart. I’m sorry. I brought what I could._ **

 

To his surprise, Sidon gave a watery chuckle, fingers tightening on the jewelry in his hand. “No, no that’s… quite alright, Link. Thank you. You have… you have no idea what this means to me, my dearest, dearest friend.”

 

Sidon could hear Link’s sigh of relief, the young merman sinking back into the water for a moment. Then he slowly rose back up, bracing his hands on the rock to keep himself steady. Very gently, he pressed a soft kiss to Sidon’s cheek before lowering himself back into the water. Sidon glanced up, reluctant to look away from the collar but needing to see Link’s expression. The merman wore a fond smile, tail flicking in the water. 

 

**_I leave you to yourself, now._ ** Link pushed himself deeper into the water, keeping his eyes on the prince. Sidon almost called him back, but truthfully, he did wish to be alone with this sweet reminder of his sister. Link waved as he reached the mouth of the cove.  **_I come back soon, Sidon. My dearest friend._ **

 


End file.
